Short-term rental

The number of "Residential Properties with Tourism Rental Permits," introduced to prevent price increases following the rise in daily home rentals, has reached 22,939 in the real estate and tourism sectors.

Greece experienced a significant rise in short-term rental accommodations in 2024, with offerings surpassing 230,000 properties nationwide by August.

Changes are underway regarding the requirements for a three-year tax exemption on properties switching from short-term (e.g., Airbnb) to long-term leases.

The "age of innocence" for short-term rentals is now officially coming to an end as two bills, by the ministries of Tourism and Finance, bring a new and stricter regulatory framework, and also impose additional fees.

Next week the Tourism Ministry is putting up for consultation a bill introducing a framework of regulatory specifications for the operation of apartments and houses as short-term rental accommodation.

International short-term rental platform Airbnb has called on the mayor of Barcelona to reconsider extending the measure to restrict short-term rentals, arguing that they benefit the hotel industry while failing to address over-tourism and the housing crisis.

The government is reviewing the provision for a three-year income tax exemption for vacant properties and those withdrawn from short-term rentals. Concerns have been raised during the public consultation phase that the current requirements are too stringent and may reduce the measure’s effectiveness.

The new tax bill provides for stiff fines for those who ignore a regulation that bans new permits for Airbnb-type short-term rentals in downtown Athens for all of 2025.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) is launching intensive audits on 1,000 taxpayer IDs (AFMs) of owners with more than three short-term rental properties.

In recent years, tax revenues from short-term rentals in Greece have surged dramatically. Tax earnings from Airbnb-style rentals have increased more than tenfold since 2017, according to Giorgos Pitilís, head of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE).